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I am using TrueCrypt in an external HDD (1Tb). I have created a volume to read and write files on PC. However, I can read but not write files on the Mac. I know that TrueCrypt volumes are fully cross-platform. Is there a way to mount a volume that I can use in both systems? Do I have to format the volume using FAT32? But can I use FAT32 in 1Tb HDD?

I am using TrueCrypt in the same, or similar, way (mine is a small encrypted TrueCrypt volume on my USB stick).

For the volume to be readable and writeable by both Windows and Mac OS X the volume needs to be formatted as FAT or FAT32. 1TB on FAT32 is fine - the maximum volume size is normally 2TB (but can be increased to 8TB using a larger cluster size). More details on FAT and its limitations can be found here.

As a slight aside - it is also possible to enable write support for NTFS write support through MacFUSE and the NTFS-3G driver. Although when I tried it, it 1) wasn't a straight single install, and 2) NTFS support was too slow to be of any practical use. This may have improved since.

As a slight aside - it is also possible to enable write support for NTFS write support through MacFUSE and the NTFS-3G driver. Although when I tried it, it 1) wasn't a straight single install, and 2) NTFS support was too slow to be of any practical use. This may have improved since.

The free NTFS-3G driver is notoriously slow. If you really need that support (and really, NTFS is just so much better than FAT32 for many many reasons), then there are other not-free NTFS drivers available that perform much better (see links below). Downside is that there "may" be unknown bugs still lurking in any of these products. There have been in the past and people have lost data as a result. These are both very mature products so the chances are slimmer than ever that they will fail you, but then it can and does happen with FAT32 also. Bottom line... no matter what, keep a backup.